Posts Tagged ‘change’

The question of when is it time to give up is one that we are all faced with at some point. Perhaps the real question is what do we mean by giving up? In my last post How Do You Define Failure? I discussed the importance of persevering and not letting our failures stop us too soon. Each apparent failure can really be a learning experience and a vital step on the way to success. But, what do you do when it seems as if success is going to permanently elude you?

Take a Time Out

Sometimes the best thing to do is to take a time out from what we are attempting. We need to be willing to allow ourselves the luxury of diverting our attention temporarily to something else that may even be unrelated. This is a little like the idea of sleeping on something for a few nights and just letting our mind subconsciously work on a problem. It is fairly common to suddenly have an answer pop into our head when we were not deliberately thinking about finding a solution. A temporary diversion is often one of the most productive things we can do. However, that diversion does not necessarily need to be play time or what seems like wasted time. We could move on to working on some other seemingly unrelated issues. Occasionally one of the other issues will prompt an answer to our original problem. So, while it may look like we have given up, what we are really doing is allowing our mind to work on its own.

Reframe the Problem

Perhaps we are so caught up in what we thought we were trying to accomplish that we miss the obvious. Consider the development of post-it notes at 3M. The scientist who developed the adhesive used on them was actually trying to develop a super strong adhesive. He continue to promote his adhesive for other possible uses, but it went unused for nearly six years until another individual had the idea to use the low-strength adhesive in the manner we now see with post-it notes. So, “when is it time to give up?” Well in this case it was not as soon as something did not work as hoped. Sometimes people just need to think and reframe the problem. With the development of this adhesive the solution came before the problem. All it took was someone to use their imagination to consider possibilities.

Put It in the Idea Bank

How often do you have an idea and then just let it go without ever acting on it? If you don’t already do this, consider keeping a file where you record random ideas. Keep it handy and periodically review it. If you are working on an idea for which there seems to be no solution then the question of “when is it time to give up?” can become rhetorical if you put this issue aside by recording it in your idea file. Later something else you are working on may well jog your memory of the original idea filed away, while at the same time providing you with a solution.

Artists sometimes have several pictures they are working on. They may be struggling with one picture and divert their attention to it (kind of like taking a time out). Then when they return to it later they then see how to proceed and get the results they want. It is not unusual to occasionally let an idea for a painting sit for an extended time, almost like the idea bank concept. Later, after their mind has subconsciously worked on the idea they suddenly find they are ready to paint it. An author can do the same thing when writing a book. They may get stuck on where to go with a story line and take a diversion to another task. When they resume writing the story line has now developed in their mind.

So before you give up reframe the idea of what it means to give up. Yes, sometimes it may be that you never finalize something, but other times you will find that a temporary diversion helps or that an idea you put aside in your idea bank is now one that makes complete sense.

Like it or not, every business has things that need to be done over and over. Despite the necessity, this repetition can blind you to the obvious. Think about it. When something is repeated enough there is a tendency to operate on autopilot, and when we do that it is easy to Read the rest of this entry »

Learning is a never-ending endeavor. Either your deliberately learn or you stop learning at your own peril. In the blog Be Willing to Experiment I discussed the important of accepting that change occurs and being the catalyst for the change we desire. Continuous learning is part of the process of being a catalyst for favorable change. Read the rest of this entry »

Take some time to think about how you are now versus how you were 5, 10, 15 or more years ago. If you are like me you see someone very different. We all change and adapt to grow whether intentionally or not. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve all had an occasion where we realized what we were doing was not going to work and had to start over. While frustrating, starting over is not always bad and can actually be a good thing. The key is to get over the frustration quickly and don’t carry it over as baggage in a new attempt. Read the rest of this entry »

How often have you or someone you know tried something repeatedly only to see it fail each time? For most of us it is more than we care to admit. It’s amazing how often people act foolishly and fulfill the saying attributed to Albert Einstein, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” So, here is the question. If we know what we’ve been doing is not working and we know that it is insanity to keep doing the same thing, why do we? Read the rest of this entry »

The business world is littered with the corpses of companies who were unwilling to change with the times. It really doesn’t matter whether it is products and services, methods of reaching customers, or some other aspect, the business landscape is constantly changing.

If it’s Not Broken

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it is a common saying used to justify remaining with the status quo. Sometimes I think it is just Read the rest of this entry »